Serverless workload cost scenarios

"How much will serverless actually cost me?" depends on the workload. These scenarios cost a set of common shapes — a 1M req/mo API, a 10M req/mo API, a per-minute cron job, an image-resize endpoint, a webhook receiver and a Next.js app's API routes — across every request-priced platform, after each free tier, with the assumptions shown. The headline: most small workloads cost $0 inside the free tier.

Data as of June 2026.

Cost to run a 1M requests/month API

A small JSON API handling 1,000,000 requests a month, each running about 100 ms at 256 MB of memory.

Cost to run a 10M requests/month API

A busier API handling 10,000,000 requests a month, each ~100 ms at 256 MB of memory plus 50 GB egress.

Cost of a cron job that runs every minute

A scheduled function firing every minute (about 43,800 runs/month), each running ~500 ms at 256 MB.

Cost of an image-resize endpoint

An image-processing endpoint handling 2,000,000 requests/month, each ~400 ms at 1024 MB (image work is memory- and CPU-heavy) plus 200 GB of resized-image egress.

Cost of a webhook receiver

A lightweight webhook endpoint handling 500,000 requests/month, each ~50 ms at 128 MB with negligible egress.

Cost of a Next.js app's API routes

A typical Next.js app whose API/SSR routes serve 3,000,000 requests/month, each ~200 ms at 512 MB plus 100 GB of response egress.

Want to set your own numbers? Use the cost calculator. Or browse all platforms and the rankings.

Last updated: 2026-06-21